Government to create 40 lakh jobs in small, medium entreprises

TNN | Updated: Mar 6, 2019, 9:06 IST

Forty lakh jobs in the industrial sector through small and medium enterprises is the focus of the state’s indu...Read More

MUMBAI: Forty lakh jobs in the industrial sector through small and medium enterprises is the focus of the state’s industrial policy 2019, which was released on Tuesday and will be valid for the next five years. With very little to no job creation, data by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows that unemployment rate climbed to 7.2% in February 2019, the highest since September 2016 and up from 5.9% in February 2018 across the country. To create jobs, the state government has announced setting up of the Chief Minister Employment Generation Programme under the new industrial policy. P Anbalgan, chief executive officer, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, said that a small and medium enterprise generates 30-32 jobs at the cost of Rs 1 crore investment. “Our aim is to set up 20,000 such units every year over the next five years. We will easily generate 40 lakh jobs in five years,” he said. To incentivize the setting up of such units, the state government, under the new policy, will provide grant-in-aid amounting to 15-35% of the total project cost, said Anbalgan. The policy will also promote setting up of an export council; Maharashtra will be the first state to have such a council. Currently, only the Centre has such councils for various sectors. The state government has also decided to continue the critical industrial infrastructure fund with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore.

“We will also focus on reviving sick units. To begin with, we will target sick units in the IT sector,” said Anbalgan. Chandrakant Salunkhe, founder and president Small and Medium Business Development Chamber of India, said that the new policy sounded good but it is necessary to be implemented in time. “We do not know the achievements of the last policy and with so little time now, this policy will need to be implemented by the new government,” he said.